569 Influence of work and personal-protective factors on commuting safety behaviours: a growth modelling approach

Abstract

IntroductionResearch has shown that attitudes and behaviours developed in the work domain can spill over into non-work domains, however little attention has been paid to the impact that work may have on the transition between one’s work and non-work domains (i.e., commuting). We sought to examine the impact of work-related rumination (WRR) as a cognitive distracting mechanism on employee’s commuting safety behaviours (CSBs) and the potential buffering effects of personal-protective factors (commute-as-relaxation) as employee’s commute from work to home.MethodsData were collected via a baseline and 10 day daily diary study (two weeks, Monday – Friday) from employees (n=106) who worked full-time and commuted via private vehicle on a daily basis between March – April 2015. Data were analysed using Mplus version 7.3.1. and results were limited to the baseline and first week of daily diary collection.ResultOn average, employees experience a decrease in risky CSBs over the work week, with a rise in risky CSB occurring from Thursday to Friday. Travel-speed disruptions and WRR significantly impacted the trajectory of risky CSBs, such that travel-speed disruptions and engaging in WRR resulted in riskier CSBs. Additionally, employees who view the commute as time for relaxation engaged in less risky CSBs than their counterparts. The final model fit the data well [χ2(53)=67.81, p=0.08, RMSEA=0.058, CFI=0.94, TLI=0.93, SRMR=0.07].DiscussionResults indicated that employees who engage in WRR engage in riskier CSBs over the course of the working week. However, employees who view their commutes as time for relaxation engage in less risky CSBs over their counterparts. The findings of this study indicate the need for workplace intervention techniques that target the negative spill-over of WRR into employees’ commute time, as well as highlights the need for work-recovery mechanisms.